


T'hy'la, Forever and Always

by angelus2hot



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-02
Updated: 2013-01-02
Packaged: 2017-11-23 07:41:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/619692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelus2hot/pseuds/angelus2hot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim wants to do something special for Spock’s birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	T'hy'la, Forever and Always

**Author's Note:**

> **Title:** T'hy'la, Forever and Always  
>  **Fandom:** Star Trek  
>  **Pairing/Characters:** Kirk/Spock  
>  **Rating:** PG-13  
>  **Word Count:** 1,791  
>  **Disclaimer:** I don’t own Star Trek(TOS) or any of the characters especially James T. Kirk (more’s the pity)  
>  **Summary:** Jim wants to do something special for Spock’s birthday  
>  **A/N:** written for lah_mrh for [happy_trekmas](http://happy-trekmas.livejournal.com/profile)

Captain James T. Kirk winced as he stepped off the transporter and started to grab his back as a spasm of pain shot through him, but he stopped short when he remembered what he had done. He damn well hoped Spock appreciated this. 

Jim grimaced. He knew this wasn’t Spock’s fault. After all, his first officer didn’t have a clue as to what he had done. No. This had been all his own idea. Even though Spock didn’t generally celebrate his birthday, he had still wanted to do something to mark the occasion. Something private, just between the two of them. And now of course he was paying the consequences. 

_Butch up. Remember this was all your idea._

Jim rolled his eyes as his shoulder slumped against the wall of the lift. “Bridge.” As soon as he checked the bridge he was going to have a nice long rest. And hopefully afterwards the soreness would be gone and he would be able to show Spock what he had done.

 

Just as the doors began to slide open, he stood straighter and gave all appearances of a man in perfect physical shape. The pain going through his back not withstanding. 

 

Worry lines stretched across his face as Spock watched Jim walk across the bridge of the Enterprise. Although, the Captain wasn’t saying anything, he knew something was wrong. There was no need for Jim to say anything, Spock could feel the waves of soreness and pain that radiated off the captain. Besides, the way Jim moved was all the conformation he needed. 

“Captain?”

Kirk shook his head.

Spock couldn’t let it go. “Jim?” 

Once more Jim shook his head. “Not now, Spock.” Jim could tell by the way Spock whispered his name so urgently that he was dying to know what was wrong. But Jim wasn’t quite ready yet to let Spock know. It was supposed to be a surprise and it had seemed like a good idea at the time. But if he had known how much it was going to hurt afterwards he might have just reconsidered.

With a huge, but mostly silent sigh of relief, he eased himself into the command chair. It was a relief to finally sit down. It seemed as if walking really wasn’t a good idea at the moment. He planned on staying put for the next few hours. Jim leaned back against the chair and quickly bit back a groan as his shirt pulled tight across his lower back.

After a few minutes, slowly, Jim stood and began to walk towards the lift. “Mr. Spock, you have command.” Without another word he left the bridge. 

 

 

Spock waited until the doors had closed behind the captain before he turned towards the engineer. “Mr. Scott, you have the comm.”

Although, he would have liked nothing better to ask why he was being given command when just a few minutes earlier the captain had given it to Spock. Somehow he managed to bite his tongue and nod. “Aye, Mr. Spock.” 

 

Once he left the bridge, Spock didn’t waste anytime. Within minutes he was standing outside the captain’s room. 

He didn’t bother to announce himself but walked through the doors as if he owned the place. Or rather as if the man inside the room meant more to him than his own life. He wasn’t willing to wait a second longer to find out what was wrong with his captain. 

“Why, Mr. Spock, come right in, why don’t you?” He carelessly tossed his shirt over the chair as he spoke.

“Thank you, Captain.” The sarcasm wasn’t lost on Spock, he just chose to ignore it. Spock narrowed his eyes as he stared at Jim. He couldn’t be positive but he could have sworn he had seen red marks on the captain’s back. The last time he had seen Jim’s back look like that was years ago after he had been whipped. 

A red haze began to appear over his eyes. He had to know for sure. Whoever had dared to mark Jim would pay. He could care less that it would have to be one of his own people who had done this. The whole Vulcan planet would pay. “Jim, turn around.”

Jim held up his hands. “Now, Spock. It isn’t what you think. I didn’t want you to see yet. Honestly, it’s not as bad as it....” Jim let his sentence trail off. In all honesty he couldn’t exactly say that. He didn’t know how bad it looked. If it looked as bad as it felt he was in serious trouble.

“Turn around.” His tone of voice brooked no argument.

Without another word, Jim slowly turned around.

A long hiss escaped between Spock’s teeth as he stared at the raw flesh before him. “You did this?”

“Be serious, Spock. You know I can’t reach my own back.” Jim joked as he tried to lighten the mood. 

Apparently, Spock wasn’t in the mood to see the humor. “Jim.”

“I wanted to...” He quickly cleared his throat and tried again. “I wanted to do something for your birthday. To make it.... special.”

“But this. It was not meant for... You shouldn’t have done this.” Spock didn’t have words. To think what his Jim had went through for him.

“Believe me if I had known it could be this painful I might have reconsidered it.” Jim couldn’t help teasing.

“Pain?” He had forgotten Vulcans have a higher threshold for pain than humans do. If only he had known what Jim had been planning. He could have explained that the technique Vulcan’s used was much more painful then the ones used by their human counterparts. If he had known what Jim was planning they wouldn’t have stopped on Vulcan. If he had known he could’ve done it himself and Jim wouldn’t be in the pain he was in now. He would have felt nothing but pleasure at his hands. _Jim was in pain!_ “Lie down. I’ll be right back.”

Jim had barely had time to lay down on the bed before Spock was once again barging through the doors. 

Carefully, Spock sat down beside Jim and opened the tiny jar he had brought with him. “This will sting for just a moment but it will take away all the pain you are feeling. I promise.”

As he scooped a bit of the green tinged cream onto his fingers he began to chant softly in Vulcan. His fingers loving traced the contours of Jim’s back before lingering on the word inscribed there. The very word that meant so much to him and was at this moment causing Jim pain. “T’hy’la” 

 

“Tell me something, Spock.” Jim spoke through clenched teeth. Spock hadn’t been kidding when he said the concoction he was rubbing on his back would sting. It felt as if a thousand bees were stinging his already burning flesh.

“Anything.”

“Why does it hurt so much?” A long slow hiss escaped him as Spock traced the letters on his back. “I’ve been on shore leave before. I know plenty of men who have gotten this done and none of them have ever complained of it hurting like this.” A horrific thought occurred to him. “Please tell me that I’m not just being a......” He couldn’t even bring himself to finish the thought much less speak it out loud.

“There’s nothing wrong with...” Spock’s fingers caressed the letter ‘t’. “You are reacting appropriately to the situation. As to why it is painful, our methods of... I believe you call it tattooing...” 

Jim quickly interrupted. “What do Vulcans call it?”

“You wouldn’t be able to pronounce it. As I was saying. Our methods are much more painful...”

“You don’t say.” Jim muttered under his breath. “Why?”

“If you will quit interrupting and let me finish...” He waited for Jim to nod his head before he continued, “From my research I’ve gathered that most human males decide to get a tattoo as some kind of macho symbol and it can, so I’ve learned, be removed. Vulcan designs aren’t so much as inked on but.. let me put it more simply. It is burned on. The technique is such so that once our word or words have been inscribed on flesh it can never be removed. Not by any means.”

A low groan escaped Jim.

Spock’s brow furrowed. “You are still in pain?” The medicine should be working by now.

“Yes.”

Spock reached for the intercom. “You need to see a healer. I will have Mr. Scott meet us in the transporter room.”

Jim quickly grabbed Spock’s hand to stop him. “No. Spock.”

“You cannot be stubborn about this, Jim. I will not allow you to continue to suffer. This shouldn't be...”

A painful smile crossed Jim’s face. “That’s not it, Spock. You see I just didn’t get the one word done.”

Spock looked at Jim’s back. “There is only ‘T’hy’la here.”

With a grunt, Jim eased down the waistband of his pants. 

There firmly across his waist was another word written in Vulcan. 

Spock couldn’t believe what he was seeing. But there was no mistake. His name was now permanently etched into Jim’s skin. Spock didn’t speak, he couldn’t. There was too much emotion struggling within him for him to say a word. He scooped more cream from inside the jar and carefully began applying it. 

Jim was surprised that Spock hadn’t said anything. Maybe he wasn’t as happy with what Jim had done. “Spock?”

Long, thin fingers caressed each individual letter, leaving behind nothing but blissful relief as they moved onto the next.

“Spock?” Jim tried again. “Don’t you like it?”

_Like it?_ Never in all of his life had anyone done what James Kirk had done for him. And for a human to endure this kind of pain just to give him a birthday present was something beyond his imagining. “Do you know what you have done?” His voice was stern as he placed the jar on the shelf before he laid down carefully beside Jim.

_Uh oh. He hoped he hadn’t made some sort of mistake._ “No. What?”

“You have made me a part of you. Forever.”

A smile of relief slowly pulled at the corners of Jim’s face as he turned his head to look at Spock. “You have always been a part of me.”

“I always shall be. Forever and always, T’hy’la.”

“Always.” Jim whispered before he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. 

Jim didn’t know Spock stayed awake for hours lightly tracing the words written on his back. He traced each letter lovingly before starting all over again. That Jim had had these words inscribed on his flesh meant more to him then Jim would ever know.


End file.
